Adventures on a Floridian Cruise
by Karabou95
Summary: Sequel to Kid Me Not. The team heads off for another case: this time on a cruise ship in Florida. They go undercover as a family with Reid, JJ, Prentiss and Morgan as the kids.
1. Chapter 1

**I finally got around to writing a sequel for kid me not! I wasn't planning on it, but I had so much fun writing baby Reid and I had some free time, so I decided to write it! Hope you enjoy!**

JJ sat in her office sifting through folders, sighing as she glanced at the pile she had yet to go through.

"Do you have anything for us?" Hotch asked, popping his head into her office. "Because I was contacted with an interesting case; but we'll only take it if everyone agrees to it. And it's not going to be pretty."

"Where is it?" JJ asked, her interest peaked. "And what's it about?"

"Florida. And I'll tell everyone together; it's too long to explain it six times," Hotch said. "Be in the conference room in ten minutes."

"Okay," JJ agreed, starting to pick up her papers as Hotch left the room to find the others.

He figured Reid and Morgan would be finishing up paperwork from their latest case, and he hoped Prentiss and Garcia would be too.

"No, I'm not doing your paperwork!" Reid protested, shoving a couple of folders back at Morgan.

"Come on, Reid!" Morgan protested. "You're already done and I'll be here forever if you don't help me!"

"And if you're going to do some of his, you should do some of mine too!" Prentiss inserted, grinning at the exasperated expression of Reid's face.

"Conference room, 10 minutes," Hotch called as he passed, heading for Garcia's office.

"What's up sweet cheeks?" Garcia asked chipperly as he entered her office. "Anything you need me to do?"

Hotch chuckled at her perky attitude. "Be in the conference room in ten minutes, we have a new case."

"Alrighty! I'll be there," she exclaimed.

Once everyone was gathered in the conference room, Hotch pulled up pictures on the screen.

"Six families have been found murdered on six different cruise ships; all on the same cruise line. The families have all been of mixed races and they all have four kids."

"Six families? Why weren't we called sooner?" Morgan asked.

"They weren't open to asking for help, but now they realize they can't do it on their own. There is a catch however…," Hotch said, sighing.

"Which is…?" Prentiss asked curiously.

"They want us to go in undercover. As a family."

"How would that work?" Morgan asked. "None of us are kids and we can't trust kids on a case like this."

"We wouldn't use kids. We would be using us."

"Oh no," Reid said, looking horrified. "No, no, no," he muttered.

"We don't have to go if you guys don't feel comfortable doing it," Hotch said.

"Wait, what are we doing?" Morgan asked. "Boy genius here is the only one who knows. The rest of us haven't figured it out yet."

"He wants us to use the pills to turn us into kids and go undercover like that," Reid injected sullenly.

"Oh, God," JJ sighed. "I hated being a kid. But six families…I guess I'm in."

"Same," Prentiss groaned. "I feel like we have to do this."

"What lucky two get to be the parents?" Morgan asked.

"Strauss and I have talked about it, and we decided that Garcia and I would be the parents."

"And how old would we be?" Reid asked. "Have they figured out how to use a set age on it?"

"Reid; you would be the same age as you were last time, about three. JJ; you would be four. Morgan; you would be 15 and Prentiss; you would be 12," Hotch said.

"Fine," Morgan sighed. "I'm in."

"Me too," Garcia exclaimed. "Cute little kids I get to parent? I'm so in!"

"I guess I'm in too," Reid said nervously. "When do we leave?"

"Great, wheels up in three hours, I'll give you some extra time to get everything together you'll need," Hotch said.

The team left the room, all lost in their own thoughts about the upcoming case.

"Hey, pretty boy, I guess I'll be taking care of you again," Morgan joked, ruffling Reid's hair as he caught up to him. Reid gave him a dirty look and Morgan smirked.

"You know it's true."

"You won't be your normal age either," Reid pointed out.

"Maybe not, but I won't be three."

"No, you'll be a horny, hormonal teenager who thinks the world is out to get them. In some ways, I have it better."

"I can give myself a bath," Morgan countered.

"Will you both shut up?" Prentiss groaned. "I have to be an awkward pre-teen, I have it worse than both of you. So don't even talk."

"I thought you all were okay with this?" Hotch asked, coming up from behind the group.

"We are, just not too pleased with the age thing. I don't mind doing the case," Reid added quickly when he saw Hotch's expression. "But I'm just not thrilled with it."

"It won't be like last time," Hotch reassured him. "I'll stop it before it gets to that point. Now go pack, and Reid, make sure to bring the clothes you bought last time."

"Got it," Reid sighed, walking out to his car with Morgan and saying goodbye for the time being.

A couple hours later, the team was en route to Florida, the jet uncharacteristically silent. All of them were lost in their own thoughts of the upcoming case.

"When do we take the pill?" Prentiss asked, breaking the silence.

"Probably pretty soon. We want to be undercover as soon as we land so we can be ready to start right when the police give us everything we need," Hotch explained.

"Oh, great," Morgan sighed. "How long until we land?"

"14 minutes," Reid announced.

"Then we should start preparing now." Hotch grabbed a bag full of pills out of his bag and handed them out to the team.

Morgan sighed, glaring at the little white pill that was so innocently lying on his palm. He put it on his tongue and swallowed it, grimacing as it went down. He passed out in his seat, and started changing into a teenager before them.

The rest of the team took their pills, except for Reid. They all changed, and Reid was left staring at the pill in his hand.

"Reid?" Hotch asked, looking concerned. "You okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to take the pill?"

"Yeah," Reid said, not moving.

"Are you going to take it anytime soon?" Hotch asked gently. Morgan shot him a look and went over to sit by Reid.

"Hey, Reid," he whispered, lying a hand on his shoulder. "You sure you want to do this?"

"Yeah."

"Can you say anything but yeah?"

"Of course I can, I'm just a little bit nervous about having to be a kid again. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience for me," Reid said. Morgan gently guided the hand with the pill to his mouth and Reid obediently opened his mouth and swallowed the pill when it was placed on his tongue.

A scared expression came onto his face once he realized what he had done, and Morgan squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"It's fine, you're fine," he whispered in his ear, and Reid passed out and began to change.

In a couple of minutes, JJ, Prentiss, Reid, and Morgan were all changed into their new ages and clothes and ready to start the case.

Morgan picked up Reid from where he was sitting and Hotch cleared his throat, reaching out to stop him.

"No 15 year old boy would be carrying around his brother, I'll carry him," Hotch said, reaching for Reid.

"I don't care, we can be a tight-knit family. Those exist, it wont be that abnormal."

"Just let me carry him," Hotch sighed. Morgan reluctantly handed Reid over, who didn't look pleased about being talked about like he wasn't right there.

"Ready to go?" Garcia asked cheerily. Prentiss grabbed JJ's hand and they walked off the jet, squinting at the sudden appearance of the bright Florida sun.

"You must be the BAU," a stout man said, coming up to them and shaking Hotch's hand. "I'm Charlie Walker from the FPD, I see you've already changed, good, good. I assume you want to start your investigation right away?"

"Yes, we'd like to get on the cruise ship and go undercover as soon as possible," Hotch said.

"Very well," Charlie said, handing Hotch a bunch of folders and papers. "Your rental car is waiting for you outside; I wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you," Hotch said, motioning for his team to follow him out to the car that was waiting for them outside.

Hoping to skip over the complaints about car seats, Hotch quickly strapped Reid and JJ in and gave them his best silencing, stern, look when they began to protest.

"I hate this stupid seat," Reid sulked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sucks to suck," Morgan teased from the seat behind him.

"Do you already have to start acting immature?" Prentiss asked, sighing. "We can't at least wait a couple of days?"

"Guess not. The side effects are kicking in a lot sooner than I thought they would," Hotch said worriedly.

"Whatever," Prentiss sighed. "Too late to back out now."

"How long does it take to get there?" JJ asked, poking her head over the seat and looking over Garcia's shoulder.

"We'll be there in about 20 minutes," Garcia replied.

"Are we going right on the ship when we get there?" Reid asked.

"Yeah, once we park, we'll become the Parker's and you will all need to act your age. JJ, Reid, and Prentiss; that means no swearing. Morgan, don't go all over protective on Reid; no 15 year old boy acts like that."

"Got it," they all chorused, Morgan making a face behind Hotch's back.

"I saw that," he chuckled.

The next twenty minutes was passed in loud chaos, and by the time they were in sight of the ship, Hotch had a killer headache.

"Ok, everyone out of the car. Morgan, take Reid."

"Aw, dad, do I have to?" Morgan moaned.

"Yes. Don't start this now, we haven't even gotten on the ship yet. You wanted the vacation, so it won't kill you to take care of Reid for part of it."

Reid looked hurt, and his lower lip started to quiver. Morgan noticed when he bent down to undo his seatbelt, and he picked him up gently.

"Hey, baby boy, I'm not serious, you know that," he whispered in his ear. "I'm just trying to act like a 15 year old boy."

Reid didn't look totally convinced, but he put a smile on his face.

"Is that our boat?" Reid asked, pointing at the ship right in front of them.

"Yep, do you have our tickets, Aaron?" Garcia asked, putting her arm around Hotch's shoulder. He nodded and pulled them out of his pocket, handing them out to his team.

"Ready for this?" he asked, a solemn expression on his face.

The team nodded, and they turned and headed for the ship.

**Should I continue? Updates may be kind of irregular since my schedule right now is absolutely hectic. I would love it if you reviewed!**


	2. Chapter 2

Hotch plopped down on the bed in the room he and Garcia were sharing and buried his face in his hands. He had known since as soon as he saw this case that it would be emotionally draining, but he hadn't imagined it would be this bad so soon.

"You okay, honey cheeks?" Garcia asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm just stressed. I don't want anything to happen to them; this unsub is so violent."

"I know how you feel, I don't know what I'll do if something happens to any of them."

A muffled scream came from next door, and Hotch groaned.

"We should probably go check on them," he said, pushing himself up. He used his key to their room and pushed the door open, his mouth gaping open at the sight before him.

Morgan had pinned Reid down on the bed and was tickling him mercilessly, and JJ and Prentiss were laughing hysterically. Reid screamed and giggled and tried to twist himself out of Morgan's grip.

"Guys, guys! We're here to work, not play!" Hotch exclaimed, pulling Morgan off of Reid. "We need to go over the case and get a good grip on the profile."

"Sorry, Hotch," Morgan muttered, pulling Reid up from the bed and settling him on his hip. JJ and Prentiss had identical looks of guilt on their faces and they jumped up.

"Come to our room, we'll go over the case and form a preliminary profile there."

The four of them obediently followed him into his room, where Garcia had already spread out all case information. She handed files to Reid and set him up in the corner.

"Work your magic, baby boy," she said, grinning.

"Do we have all the information for a geographic profile?" Reid asked, flipping through the files and groaning in frustration as he dropped them all on the floor.

"We should, just tell me if you're missing anything and I'll look it up for you," Garcia said, bending down and helping Reid pick up the papers.

He flopped down on the ground, propped himself up on his elbows and began to look for the information he needed in the files.

Morgan turned to Hotch once he saw Reid had something to keep him busy.

"So what do we have so far?" he asked.

"Six families, four kids each, mixed races in the family. All of the families have at least one adopted kid. We know he kills on the cruise ship and hides the bodies. They've been discovered in places from the life boats to the boiler room."

"Life boats and boiler rooms…you know what that reminds me of?" JJ asked. "Titanic."

"The ship or the movie?" Morgan asked.

"The movie of course!" JJ exclaimed.

"Focus, guys," Hotch said, pointing at the files spread out on the bed. "We need to figure out a preliminary profile we can give to the cruise security so they can be on the lookout for the unsub."

"Fine," JJ sighed. "Be boring, see what I care." Prentiss snorted, and JJ shot her a mean look.

"Hey, guys," Reid said, dragging his files over to them. "I think I found a pattern in where the unsub is dumping the bodies."

"Let me guess: Titanic?" Morgan said, snorting.

"What? No. This has nothing to do with the titanic," Reid said, looking confused.

"Just ignore that, Reid. Continue."

"Ok, so the unsub is dumping the bodies in places he deems of the utmost importance on the ship. The boiler room, the control room, the lifeboats. All are important parts of the ship. So if we can figure out what he considers to be the most important parts of the ship, we can find his next dump site."

"Good work, Reid!" Hotch praised, and Reid grinned. Morgan ruffled his hair and Reid grimaced.

"Can we get food?" JJ asked, her stomach growling.

Hotch checked his watch; it was past eight. No wonder they were hungry.

"Yeah, let's just clean up first and then we can go see what they have."

"Can we get pizza?" JJ asked.

"If they have it," Garcia said, pushing her computer under the bed where it would be safer.

"Yay!" JJ squealed.

They all left the room, Hotch pocketing the key as the door closed behind them. Morgan ignored Hotch and picked Reid up, settling him on his hip. Reid unconsciously snuggled into Morgan, then recoiled once he realized what he was doing.

"Sowwy," Reid mumbled, sticking his thumb in his mouth.

"You're fine. Are you tired, baby boy?" Morgan asked.

"No," Reid protested. "Not at all." Despite his protests, he yawned.

"Hey, dad," Morgan called. "Spencer's tired, so we should make dinner fast."

"We'll get something quick then head back to the room. Do you want to just grab something with Spence and take him back to the room."

"Sure," Morgan said. "We'll just grab a pizza from somewhere."

"Ok, I'll meet you back in the room. Be careful," Hotch said, looking worried.

"We'll be fine, dad," Morgan sighed, rolling his eyes. "See you later."

Hotch watched Morgan and Reid walk away, and he couldn't help from feeling worried about them.

"So, baby boy, pizza sound alright?" Morgan asked, jostling Reid to keep him awake.

"Yeah," Reid said softly. Morgan quickly found a place that had pizza and ordered it, bouncing around impatiently.

"Derek?" Reid asked nervously.

"Yeah, Spence?" Morgan said, immediately sounding concerned.

"I feel like someone's watching us."

Morgan immediately spun around, wrapping his arms around Reid.

"Where?"

"I don't know, I can't tell!"

Morgan tried to seek out anyone who seemed out of place, but no one stuck out as suspicious to him.

"I don't see anyone," he muttered, heading over to the pizza line as he heard one of the workers call his name. He grabbed the pizza box and headed out of the restaurant, anxiously glancing back over his shoulder as he walked out.

"I swear, I felt like someone was watching us!" Reid mumbled, looking like he was about to start sobbing.

"Hey, hey, I'm not mad," Morgan soothed him. Man, he couldn't wait until Reid ate and went to sleep. He could loved the kid when he was all cute and hyper, but once he got tired, it got ugly.

"But-"

"No buts. We're going to forget about this, eat some pizza, then go to bed. Don't mention it to dad, it'll just make him worry."

"Are you sure?" Reid asked.

"Yes. Just keep it our little secret." He put his finger to his lips like he had seen Hotch do with Jack, and Reid picked up on what he was doing and followed his lead, putting one tiny finger to his lips. '_He is so damn cute,' _Morgan thought, shaking his head and he shoved the key in the door and walked into their hotel room, depositing Reid and the pizza box on the bed. He grabbed a towel to spread over the bed so crumbs wouldn't go everywhere, and he and Reid dug in.

Within ten minutes of finishing eating, Reid had fallen asleep. Morgan pulled the covers over him and turned on the TV, muting it so it wouldn't wake Reid up.

About an hour later, Morgan jolted awake from his semi-sleep state as Prentiss and JJ came in, talking excitedly.

"Shh!" he whispered, pointing to the sleeping Reid.

They both glanced over at him and made identical 'aww' expressions.

"He's so cute!" Prentiss exclaimed. Morgan looked over and saw Reid was curled up on his side with his thumb in his mouth and his floppy brown hair falling into his eyes.

"Why can't he always be like this?" JJ squealed.

Reid stirred and he sat up, sleepily fisting his eyes and blinking at the two girls in front of him.

"Whas wrong?" he asked sleepily, yawning. "Why are you staring at me?"

"Because you're adorable!" JJ exclaimed.

Reid blushed, and he looked down at the covers, playing with one of the loose strings.

"Awkward…," Morgan muttered, grinning at the chagrined expression on Reid's face.

"Come on guys, leave poor Reid alone!" Garcia exclaimed. "Did they wake you up baby boy?"

"Yeah," Reid said, yawning again. Garcia gave JJ and Prentiss a scolding look.

"I told you to be quiet!"

"Well we forgot!" JJ protested.

"In the 30 seconds from when I last saw you to when you walked into the room?"

"Yeah…," JJ muttered. "But I know now!"

Garcia laughed. "Good to know. Now get some sleep, all of you. We have a long day tomorrow. Lots to do!"

**Sorry for the delay, I've literally been SO busy! I would love reviews! Please!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow that was a long wait! Sorry about that, I've been super busy with AP's and newspaper and I haven't had time to write!**

**And I just realized I forgot the disclaimer on the past 2 chapters, so here goes: I don't own criminal minds, if I did things would be much different. R&R?**

The next morning at breakfast, Reid padded up to the buffet line with Morgan right behind him.

"What's up, kid?" Morgan asked. "You've been quiet all morning."

"Nothing," Reid sighed. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," Morgan snorted. "Tell me."

"I hate it how JJ and Emily aw at everything I do! It makes me feel like such a little kid and I'm not that much younger than them!" Reid burst out.

"I'll tell them to stop," Morgan sighed. "Don't worry about it anymore."

"Thanks, Derek," Reid said, grinning up at the older boy. Morgan quickly hid his grin at how fast the kid switched between moods. Sometimes he honestly seemed like a PMSing teenager.

Reid and Morgan got their food and headed back to the table, Reid practically bouncing with excitement.

"Daddy, they have Mickey Mouse pancakes!" Reid announced as soon as they got back to the table. "Look, look!" He didn't seem to be faking the excitement over the pancakes, and Morgan shook his head, taking the opportunity to steal a bite of Reid's pancake when he wasn't looking.

"Hey!" Reid exclaimed when he turned back around and saw part of his pancake was missing. "Derek!"

"Wasn't me," Morgan protested, grinning.

"Liar," Reid muttered. He pinched Morgan under the table and Morgan pinched him back, starting a little pinching war under the table which escalated to kicking.

"Do I need to separate you two?" Hotch demanded, eyes watering in pain, when a well-placed kick of Morgan's landed on his leg.

"Yes," Prentiss injected. "Please do. This is the second time they've kicked me."

"Spencer has tiny legs, how can he even kick you?" Garcia asked.

"He seems to be holding his own quite well with Derek," JJ smirked. "Owww!" she whined when Morgan kicked her shin.

"That's it, we're done," Hotch said. "I'll put this on our room charge and we're going back to the room."

"But Dad!" JJ moaned.

"No, buts!" Hotch gave them his signature Hotch glare, and they all quieted down reluctantly. "Back to the room."

Everyone got up from the table, mumbling under their breath about their mostly uneaten food.

Morgan didn't even bother to grab Reid, and he was left sitting in his booster seat with Hotch.

"That doesn't exclude you, Spencer," Hotch said coldly without looking up. Reid looked like he was about to cry.

"I can't get it undone," he mumbled, barely loud enough for Hotch to hear.

"Spencer! Go with your mom!" Hotch growled, still not looking up.

"But I can't get out!" Reid cried, his lower lip trembling. "I'm stuck!"

Hotch finally looked up and his expression softened. He immediately jumped up to console the toddler, who still looked like he was about to break down in tears.

"I'm sorry," Reid mumbled. "I shouldn't of kicked Mor-Derek." He wouldn't look Hotch in the eye, sure that his boss hated him for causing a disruption.

"Spencer, you're fine. You guys just need to calm down some," Hotch soothed, using the voice he usually reserved for Jack. "It's just hard having to deal with four kids right now."

"So you don't hate me?" Reid asked worriedly.

"No, definitely not!" Hotch exclaimed. "Come on, let's get you back to the room."

He unbuckled the straps on the booster seat and settled Reid on his hip.

"We have a long day ahead of us," Hotch said, heading toward the elevator.

They could hear the rest of the team before they could see them. It sounded like Morgan and Prentiss were arguing about something, and Reid felt Hotch sigh.

"Stop fighting!" Hotch ordered as soon as the door opened. "We need to work and we need to work now."

Morgan and Prentiss fell silent, guilty expressions on their faces.

"Sorry, Hotch," Morgan muttered. He walked over to the dresser and grabbed all their notes, spreading them out on the bed. "I promise we'll actually work now."

"Good," Hotch said.

They sat down, going over their notes and discussing potential profiles for the unsub, not actually coming to any real conclusions.

"What if he had a connection to someone who worked on the ship?" JJ asked.

"Like a partner?" Hotch asked. "I hadn't thought about that before. That could be possible though."

"He would be the dominant…," Reid mused.

"What are you thinking, Reid?" Hotch asked. Reid was quickly flipping through the case files, searching for something they had missed. "Do you think he could have a partner?"

"What if it's not a he?" Reid asked. "What if the woman is the dominant and the male is the submissive, doing whatever the woman wants him to."

"Why would she be doing it?" Morgan asked. "Would a woman even have any reason in this case to kill?"

"Family," Prentiss said.

"What?" JJ asked, looking confused.

"If she couldn't find or make a family of her own, she may be jealous of those who can and is taking out her anger on them," Prentiss explained.

"And since she's taking her anger out on them, she may not be thinking rationally," Morgan said. "So we could be looking for someone who is either infertile or unable to have children herself or someone with a husband who is infertile."

"On it," Garcia said, typing furiously into her laptop. "I need something else, there's no database on infertile women or men."

"Ok, um…how about we start with married women on this ship. Can you pull up a list of who's on this cruise?"

"Yep," Garcia said, pulling up the list.

"Ok, now narrow it down to those without kids," Reid suggested.

Just as Garcia was about to start programming that request into her laptop, a knock on the door startled all of them into silence.

"Housekeeping!" a female voice called.

"Not now, thank you!" Hotch responded. "Can you come back in a couple of hours?"

"Yes, I can," the women said, barely hiding her sigh of displeasure.

"Worker," Reid hissed, trying to stay quiet and contain his excitement. "She could be a worker, we have to look there, they wouldn't be listed as passengers since they're not, but a worker could be perfect!"

"Whoa, slow down, pretty boy," Morgan said, laughing.

"She would know the ship and she would be forced to watch happy families with their children having fun, something she isn't able to do herself," Reid said, stumbling over his words in his effort to get it all out.

"But what about the partner?" Prentiss asked.

"It doesn't have to be her husband or boyfriend, it could be another infertile friend or just a friend who she roped into doing this with her."

"That actually makes sense," Hotch mused. "Garcia, look up everyone on the cruise, including the workers and see what ones have connections to each other."

"That might take a while," Garcia said, typing as quickly as she could.

"Can we go swimming then?" JJ asked, a hopeful expression in her eyes.

"Please?" Prentiss begged.

"Reid?" Hotch asked, glancing down at the younger agent, who hadn't said anything about swimming yet.

He shrugged. "Sure, we can go."

"To the pool, then!" Hotch announced, and they all cheered. Hotch and Garcia went back to their room to change, and the rest of them hurriedly dug out their swim suits and pulled them on.

Reid was fumbling with the strings on his suit and Morgan gently bent down and took them from him.

"I got that, buddy."

"Thanks," Reid mumbled.

"Ready to go?" Hotch called, sticking his head in the door. "All of you need sunscreen before you get in, so don't even think about running off before you put it on!"

"Got it!" JJ exclaimed, mock saluting Hotch. He glared at her and she giggled.

"Have some fun, daddy!" she protested. "We're on vacation!"

"Yeah, come on dad!" Morgan exclaimed, laughing. "Don't be a fun sucker! Glaring is banned on vacation."

"To the pool, all of you."

JJ skipped away, pulling Prentiss with her.

"Do not get in without sunscreen!" Hotch yelled.

"Got it," JJ called, waving Hotch away with he hand without looking back.

Hotch rolled his eyes and followed the girls down to the pool without making any further comments.

**Sorry about the long wait! Hope you enjoyed it, R&R please? Virtual Christmas cookies to all of you if you review! (And my mom and I make good cookies!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So I thought new chapters would come faster now that it's Christmas break and I actually have time to write, but it turns out I have no time and updates are still going to be slow. Sorry about that, it's a new experience for me to actually have enough time to have a life and I'm taking full advantage of it. Well, with the exception of the 5 hour chunk of my day that's reserved for swimming. Yay for spending my break at a pool! Anyways… I'm rambling…enjoy!**

As soon as they got to the pool, Hotch chased down JJ and forced her to stand still while he put sunscreen on her.

"I can do it myself!" she protested.

"Alright," he said finally sighing. "But if you get burned it's your own fault."

"I wont get burned!" JJ exclaimed. "I'm good at putting on sunscreen."

Hotch smirked, turning to Prentiss, Reid and Morgan.

"Morgan, put sunscreen on yourself and Reid and Prentiss, you can do yourself." He handed out tubes of sunscreen to Morgan and Prentiss and pulled another out of his bad for himself.

"How many tubes did you bring?" Morgan asked, eyeing the bag skeptically.

Hotch caught his look. "I wanted to be prepared. Getting burned sucks, and I know Will would kill me if JJ came back burned and no one else would be too happy with me either…"

"I think JJ will end up burned no matter what you do," Morgan smirked.

"Yeah, I think so too," Hotch sighed. "Oh well, it's her own fault if she gets burned today."

"Can I get in?" JJ exclaimed, shoving the tube of sunscreen back at Hotch. She had streaks of sunscreen all over her face and Hotch reached out to rub them in, but she slid back, rubbing in the wrong spots herself.

"I got it," Hotch said, pulling her into his reach and rubbing the spots she had missed in. "And yes, you can get in."

JJ shrieked in excitement and raced toward the pool, jumping in without a second thought.

"Ready to get in, pretty boy?" Morgan asked after both him and Reid were coated with sunscreen.

"Spencer," Reid hissed. "Not pretty boy." He gave him a pointed look, and Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Relax, Spencer."

"I don't want to. And no, I don't want to get in."

"Aw, come on. Why not?"

"I don't like pools."

"Spencer. Everyone likes pools."

"Well, I don't."

"Don't be sassy with me."

"I'll be sassy if I want to be sassy."

"No."

"Do not start this," Hotch injected. "Derek, Spencer doesn't have to get in the pool unless he wants to."

"Fine," Morgan sighed. Hotch looked away and Morgan pressed a hand to Reid's mouth and picked him up, quickly sprinting towards the pool. He jumped in with him and grinned as Reid squealed as soon as he touched the water.

He clung onto Morgan's shoulders, his entire body shaking.

"Derek, I can't swim," he whimpered.

"What?" Morgan said, immediately pushing himself over to the shallow end. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"You'd make fun of me."

Morgan bit his lip, a sad look appearing on his face. "Come on, I'm going to teach you how to swim."

"Morgan-" Reid started.

"No buts, it's going to happen sooner or later, so we might as well do it now. You cannot be on a boat and not know how to swim."

"I can't learn in a day," Reid muttered.

"Yes you can, I did."

"Ok then, teach me."

So he did. It took both Prentiss and Morgan's efforts, but after about three hours, Reid was able to paddle across the pool without any help.

"I did it!" Reid exclaimed, hugging Morgan. "Thanks!"

"No problem, buddy. You cant be on a ship without knowing how to swim, its just stupid."

"Not really," Reid protested. "Actually, 36% of Americans can't swim."

"Well, you're out of that statistic now," Morgan grinned.

"Derek, Spencer, come on, we're going for dinner!" Garcia called, waving towards the two boys.

"We'll be right there!" Morgan called, pulling Reid out of the pool and settling him on his hip.

"Gave up on the holding your little brother isn't cool?" Reid asked, smirking.

"That was a stupid thing to say and Hotch knows it's not true."

"Good." Reid snuggled into Morgan, already starting to shiver as a light breeze came across the deck.

"Come on, baby boy, stay awake at least until dinner is over," Morgan said, bouncing the boy until he picked his head up from his shoulder and glared at him.

"But I'm tired."

"I know you are, but aren't you hungry too?"

Reid's stomach growled and he sighed.

"Yeah, I am. What are we having?"

"Haven't the foggiest, hey Hotch! Where are we going?"

"I don't know, go ask Garcia," Hotch said in annoyance from beside the pool. He was still trying to pull an unwilling JJ out of the pool.

"But I'm a mermaid, mermaids have to stay in the water otherwise they'll die! And you don't want me to die, do you?" JJ exclaimed.

"Of course I don't, but mermaids also have to eat. You'll die if you don't eat too, and did you know mermaids can live out of the water for up to 24 hours?"

"Really?" JJ asked, her face bright. "Well…I am really hungry…" She sighed and hopped out of the pool, grabbing the towel offered to her.

Hotch looked immensely relieved and he herded everyone toward the doors.

"Come on Emily!" he called, gesturing for the girl to get up from the chair where she was sulking and follow them.

She hopped up immediately as soon as she saw the exasperated look on Hotch's face.

"Where are we going?" Morgan asked Garcia, who was up in the front of the group.

"This really yummy looking café place they have here, it's a buffet with pretty much anything you could want," Garcia said. "I wanted to go to the seafood place, but we'll do that tomorrow when we have more time to look presentable."

When they got to the café, they were quickly seated, much to their relief. Cranky, hungry kids was not something Hotch and Garcia wanted to deal with. They finished dinner as fast as they could and were out of the restaurant in record time, managing not to fight the entire time. Even Prentiss's head was drooping as she spooned the creamy Mac and Cheese into her mouth and Reid looked dangerously close to falling asleep in his pasta.

As soon as Hotch paid the bill, Morgan scooped Reid up from his booster seat and headed back to the room, trying to keep the boy from falling asleep.

"Just let him sleep, he won't be that hard to get ready for bed," Hotch whispered as he caught up to them. Morgan stopped bouncing Reid and his head fell against his shoulder, his thumb creeping up to his mouth as he fell asleep.

Hotch was carrying JJ, who too was asleep on his shoulder with her thumb firmly in her mouth.

"Oh that's adorable," Garcia cooed, turning around and taking a picture of Hotch and Morgan, both with a sleeping child in their arms.

Garcia opened the door to the kid's room as quietly as she could and Morgan set Reid down on the bed.

"Should we put them in their pajamas?" Morgan whispered.

"Yeah, they can't sleep in those, they're still kind of damp," Hotch whispered.

"Crap," Morgan sighed. "Well, this will be fun."

He gently pulled Reid's damp bathing suit and t-shirt off of him, tossing it aside and grabbing clean underwear and his pajamas.

Reid whimpered as Morgan lifted him up slightly and Morgan held his breath, praying the kid wouldn't wake up.

He let out a breath when he rolled over and stuck his thumb back in his mouth and gently picked him up and settled him on his side of the bed, tucking the covers around him like his mom used to do for him.

JJ was already in bed and still sound asleep and Hotch and Garcia had gone to their room, probably already asleep also.

Prentiss walked out of the bathroom and flopped onto the bed next to JJ and fell asleep within minutes.

Morgan sighed and quickly changed, pulling on a t-shirt and sweats and crawling into bed next to Reid, who curled up next to his warmth as soon as he felt him get in bed. Morgan smiled and pulled the boy closer, cuddling him up to him. He fell asleep within minutes and soon the entire room was sound asleep, all unaware of the cameras focused on them and the bugs littered throughout the room.

**Dun dun dun! Sort of… Sorry for the wait on that one, I was a little busy! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanza and any other holiday you may celebrate! Review, review, review! (We have lots of left-over Christmas cookies! My mom made way too many**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for another delay, my laptop broke and I didn't have internet for a while so I couldn't get to our other computer enough to write. But it's back now and hopefully updates will come faster. Enjoy! R&R**The next day's breakfast was thankfully less eventful than the previous days, with no fighting whatsoever."Ok, case work until noon and then you can go do whatever you want," Hotch announced once they were back in the room. The set to work on the case, discussing possible scenarios, but never really coming to any real conclusions."Well, that wasn't overly productive," Morgan sighed as the team started to pick up their things at noon."Be back in your rooms by 5:30 to change and get ready for dinner; wear something nice, we're going to that seafood place tonight and our reservation is at six. Don't do anything stupid and stay in character," Hotch warned as the team and Reid headed out of the room, walking aimlessly around the deck, trying to decide what they wanted to walked around the deck until Reid pointed out the roller coaster."Can we do that?" he asked excitedly. "You really want to do that?" Morgan asked skeptically. "I don't know...that doesn't look overly safe.""Come on, Derek! Don't be such a kill-joy! Let's go!" Reid yelled, pulling Morgan towards it. "It's a roller coaster on a boat, yeah, what could possible go wrong?" Morgan muttered sarcastically. They got in the long line, Reid chattering excitedly about roller coasters. "Spencer," Morgan said finally. "Either talk about something else or just don't talk." Reid pouted, but moved on to a different topic. They got closer to the front of the line and Reid' chatter became more and more nervous."Have you ever done this?" Morgan asked him. "Yeah, of course," Reid said quickly. "You're lying. No you haven't," Morgan sighed. "Why are you doing this?" "I never got to before and it looks like fun. I really want to Derek.""Ok, but if you get scared, hold on to me." "I will," Reid promised, biting his lower lip. By that point, they had reached the front of the line and were waiting to get on the next cart. Reid looked up at the coaster with wide eyes. It wasn't actually that big, but to his little body, it seemed like it could touch the sky. They climbed into their seats, Reid shaking with either fear or anticipation, he couldn't tell which. Once he put the safety bar down, he kept checking and re-checking it to make sure it would stay firmly fastened around him. The ride started its climb up the hill and Reid squeezed his eyes shut, clutching onto the bar in front of went over the top and Reid yelped as he felt the unfamiliar feeling of his stomach dropping. He slowly opened his eyes to check where they were and immediately re-closed them as they went around a loop. He started to feel a little sick and was immensely grateful when the ride slowed to a pulled on the bar, beginning to panic when it didn't go up. Everyone was getting off the ride, why couldn't he? "Derek, it's stuck!" Reid exclaimed. Morgan pulled at the bar, trying to get it to come up. "Excuse me," Morgan called, catching the attention of one of the attendants. "Our bar wont go up." The young attendant pulled at the bar, frowning when he too couldn't get it up. "Go through the ride again, I'll see if I can figure out how to fix it while you're riding." "I don't wanna go on it again," Reid whimpered, his eyes widening. "Look, can you just keep it here until you can get us out? My brother's scared, he doesn't want to do it again," Morgan said angrily."Sorry man, it's the only thing we can do." The cart began to move again and Reid whimpered and clung to Morgan. "I don't wanna," he whispered, his hazel eyes filled with fear. "It was scary and I feel sick." Morgan glanced over at Reid, the kid did look really pale. He pulled him as close as he could with the bar restricting their movement and Reid buried his face in Morgan's chest.

Morgan was starting to get really worried, Reid was acting like a child, so he must be pretty scared. He could feel him shaking and he really hoped they would fix their cart soon.

"Ok, so we cant figure out what's wrong, so you'll have to go through once more. Do you want us to call your parents?" the kid asked once they were through once more.

"Yes," Morgan said furiously. He gave them Hotch's number and glared at them once more before the ride took off again.

Reid was now shaking visibly and he looked like he was about to throw up.

"Stay with me, buddy," Morgan soothed, wrapping his arm around the boy.

When the ride stopped again, Hotch and Garcia were there and the workers finally pried the bar up.

Reid bolted out of the car and launched himself into Hotch's arms, sobbing.

"Yeah, umm, we're really sorry about that," some awkward looking worker said, fidgeting with his hands as he spoke. "Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?"

"Let me speak to your manager," Hotch ordered, gently rocking Reid in his arms and murmuring soothing things to him.

"Shh, baby it's ok, you're ok." Hotch gently rubbed his back and Garcia went over to Morgan.

"What happened, baby boy?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.

"He wanted to go on the ride since he'd never done it before and when we'd gone through it once, he freaked out and didn't want to go again, but then the bar got stuck and we couldn't get out."

"How many times did they make you ride it?"

"Three."

"Oh my poor baby!" Garcia exclaimed. "How did he take it? Not well, I suppose."

"Not at all. He was clinging to me the entire time," Morgan said, sighing.

The manager walked up to the group and started apologizing profusely as soon as he was within earshot.

"I am so sorry," he said, shaking Hotch's free hand. "This never should have ended this way, they should have stopped the ride as soon as they knew the kid was freaking out about it."

He reached out for Reid, and startled, the boy shrank back.

"I guess not then," he sighed. "But anyways, the rest of your meals here will be free. I'm terribly sorry for what happened, it won't ever happen again."

"I would surely hope not. Thank you for your time," Hotch said stiffly.

Hotch walked away, motioning for the other two to follow him.

"I'm going to put Spencer to bed and stay with him, you two can go do whatever you want. Actually, Derek, can you go find the girls and make sure they aren't getting into any trouble?"

"Yeah, I'll call you if I cant find them," Morgan said.

"Ok, there's a pretty good chance they're by the pool, so check there first," Hotch said, sighing. "Come back when you're done, I have a feeling Spencer will want you."

"I'll be there," Morgan said, kissing Reid gently on the forehead. "See you later, baby boy."

Reid mumbled something unintelligible and stuck his thumb in his mouth, curling closer to Hotch.

**Wow, sorry that took so long and it was shorter than usual. Writing that chapter was like pulling teeth for me…Hopefully the next chapter will be up sooner, but no promises there. When the plot picks up (probably next chapter) it should be easier to write. Thanks for sticking through this with me and for all the support and great reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Whew! Sorry that took so long to update, school has been hectic! R&R please!**

Hotch made his way back to the room, hoping Reid wouldn't wake up before he put him to bed; he knew he would put up a fuss about taking a nap during the day.

He sighed in relief when Reid just rolled over and stuck his thumb back in his mouth when Hotch set him down on the bed.

"Is my baby asleep?" Garcia whispered, poking her head in the door. Morgan followed her into the room and sat down on the floor next to Hotch.

"Yeah, I hope he sleeps for a while and just kind of sleeps this experience off."

"Well he wont be getting on another roller coaster anytime soon," Morgan chuckled.

"Definitely not, that's for sure," Hotch said, rolling his eyes at Morgan's comment. "How were the girls?"

"Just hanging out at the pool, not getting into any trouble," Morgan said. "They're big girls, Hotch, they can take care of themselves."

"I know," Hotch sighed. "But after the roller coaster, I'm just worried about them."

"They're fine, Hotch, they can handle a day at the pool."

"Ok, ok, I get it. I'll stop worrying now."

"Has Reid woken up yet?" Morgan asked.

"Nope, he didn't even wake up when I put him down," Hotch said, looking relieved.

"Oh good," Morgan replied, flopping down on the couch. "This case is exhausting. Sometimes I don't even remember that I'm in a teenager's body and there are other times when it's the only thing I can think about."

"I assume this is one of the times where you cant stop thinking about it?" Hotch asked and Morgan nodded.

Morgan, Hotch and Garcia spent the rest of the day in the hotel room, watching the muted TV and trying not to fall asleep. A little before the agreed time to meet for dinner, Morgan got up to wake Reid.

"Hey sleepy-head," Morgan whispered, gently shaking Reid's shoulder. "Time to wake up."

"I wan' sleep," Reid mumbled, rolling over and away from Morgan.

"Come on, buddy, we have to leave for dinner soon."

"Dinner?" Reid asked, immediately perking up.

"I take it you're hungry then?"

"Starving. What are we having?"

"We're going to that seafood place, remember?" Reid wrinkled his nose and Morgan laughed.

"Come on, baby boy, you love seafood!"

"I do?" Reid asked disbelievingly. "I don't think so."

"It's a broad category to say you don't like, so I'd start thinking about something you could eat," Morgan chuckled.

Reid sighed. "Better start now, I have a lot of thinking to do."

Morgan pulled a little sweater vest and a pair of khakis for Reid and threw them over at him.

"Here, put these on."

"Do I have to?" Reid whined.

"Yes. This is a pretty fancy restaurant, we have to look decent."

"I don't want to look decent."

"Would you rather get kicked out?"

"Yes. Then we can get pizza."

"Tough luck, kid," Morgan said, laughing, and he picked Reid up and set him on the bed.

"I'm not wearing them," Reid said defiantly, folding his arms across his chest.

"Too bad you are."

"No."

"Put it on, Reid," Morgan said, wrestling him down and shoving the clothes onto his protesting form.

"I hate you," Reid muttered. "I don't want to wear it!"

"Reid. We're here for a reason, so act your age and don't act like you're three by throwing a tantrum about clothes."

Reid looked like he was about to cry.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I forgot."

"Forgot what?" Morgan asked, confused.

"That I was an agent. The little kid part of me took over. Why do I keep doing this!" he cried.

"Shh, shh," Morgan soothed, rubbing circles on his back. "It's the pill, remember. It's just one of the side effects. JJ and Em are feeling the same way."

"Where are they?" Reid asked.

"Waiting outside for us."

"Did I make us late?" Reid asked, his hazel eyes wide and worried.

"Nah, we'll be fine. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this to be easy so I started a little earlier than I needed to."

Reid nodded and stuck his thumb in his mouth, hopping down from the bed.

"Um-" he started nervously.

"What is it?" Morgan asked.

"Can you carry me?" Reid asked softly, so softly that Morgan could barely make out what he was saying.

"Sure," Morgan said, smiling slightly. He picked Reid up and settled him on his hip, grabbing a room key and making his way out the door. The rest of the team was gathered in the hall, all dressed in their semi-formal clothes.

"You two ready?" Hotch asked.

"Yep, let's go eat!" Morgan said, chuckling at the relieved expression on the girls' faces.

"Yes!" JJ exclaimed. "I'm starving!" She raced down the hall, not even bothering to wait for everyone else. They all got into the elevator, sighing in frustration when it stopped on seemingly every floor.

A couple floors before the restaurant, a women got on who seemed to be very interested in them. She had long, brown, curly hair that almost reached her butt and Reid felt an overwhelming urge that came out of nowhere to reach out and touch it. He assumed it was just because of its length, just like whenever boys got short haircuts, girls had to feel their head. It was probably just one of those things that he would never understand. He could probably come up with a scientific reason for it, but it probably wouldn't be overly accurate anyways.

He jumped, startled, once he realized she was staring at him. He blushed, sure he had been caught staring at her hair.

"Can I help you?" Hotch finally asked when she had been staring at them for a while.

"Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed. "It's just, your son reminds me of my own," she said, laughing nervously. She gave Reid one last, long look and got out of the elevator on the next floor.

"Well that was weird," Morgan remarked.

"Yeah, she was staring at Spencer…," Hotch said slowly.

"You don't think…," Morgan asked him quietly, shooting him a look.

"I don't know, we'll see later," Hotch said, purposely keeping his answer vague.

The team walked into the restaurant and were immediately surrounded by the sweet smell of food.

"That smells so good," Prentiss moaned.

"I know!" JJ exclaimed. "I hope they seat us soon!"

As soon as she spoke, the hostess came up to them and led them to their table. Dinner passed without a hitch; they were all in a good mood, the roller coaster incident forgotten.

"Derek," Reid whispered during desert, tugging on his shirt. "That lady is here. And she's staring at us again."

Morgan discreetly glanced over and sure enough, the same lady from the elevator was staring over at them. Only this time, she didn't look quite so happy.

"Hotch, don't look now, but that lady from the elevator is here and staring at us again. And she doesn't look happy," Morgan said under his breath, nudging Hotch.

Hotch quickly glanced over to his left and saw that Morgan was right: it was the same lady and she looked pissed.

"Do you think she's her?" Morgan asked worriedly. "Do you want me to take Spence, JJ and Em back to the room?"

"Yeah, but you stay here. Emily's old enough, she can take them," Hotch said, shooting him a look that clearly meant: You can't make me face a pissed off woman alone.

"Hey, Emily, it's getting late so why don't you take JJ and Spence back to the room?" Hotch suggested, handing her the room key.

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "I'm not done."

"Hurry up and finish, you've got to get back," Hotch said, giving her a meaningful look and tilting his head towards the lady from the elevator. Prentiss glanced over and saw her and she scooped the last bit of ice cream into her mouth and stood up.

"Be careful," Garcia said, unbuckling the straps on the booster seat and lifting Reid out, handing the sleepy toddler to Emily.

"I don't think I can carry him," she said, setting him down and grabbing his hand instead.

Reid fisted his eyes and yawned, sticking his thumb in his mouth as they walked away. He glanced back at Hotch, Morgan and Garcia, hoping this would be an easy arrest if it was her and if it wasn't, it wouldn't blow their cover.

"Why'd we have to leave?" JJ asked, frustrated at being the only one left out of the loop.

"Dad saw that lady from the elevator," Prentiss said.

"So?" JJ asked.

"I'll tell you when we're back in the room," Prentiss said, grabbing her hand and walking away from the table.

"Where are you guys going? It's a little late to be walking around alone, don't you think?" a man asked, stepping in front of them in the hallway.

"Um, we're just going back to our room," Prentiss said cautiously, trying to step around the man. He was a lot bigger than them, at least 6'4 and his entire body was muscular and huge.

"But where are your parents?" he asked, stepping closer to them and blocking their way to the elevator.

"They're right behind us, we wanted to go back to the room and they had to pay for dinner still," Prentiss said, trying to keep the nervousness she felt from seeping into her voice.

"Well let me walk you to your room, a lot could happen to a couple of kids walking around alone at night."

"Thank you, but that's really not necessary. Our room is right by the elevator, we'll be fine," Prentiss said.

"No, really, I insist."

Prentiss glanced at Reid and JJ nervously and she was scared to see that they both had similar looks of dread on their face.

The man started towards them and Prentiss quickly backed up, getting ready to scream if she needed to. There was rooms all around them, she was sure someone would be able to hear them. She was actually amazed that no one had come and spotted them in the hall yet.

He shoved something at Prentiss's face before she could react and she fell to the ground, unconscious. Reid and JJ glanced at each other and took off down the hallway as fast as they could, but the man was a lot bigger than them and he caught up to them in no time. He forced the cloth onto both of their faces and they both collapsed to the ground.

**Well, that chapter pretty much wrote itself! It's finally becoming easier to write and the plot's picking up now! Updates should hopefully come sooner, as deadline for newspaper was last week so I don't have to spend all my free time working on that. Reviews would be greatly appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Finally done! That took a while, but once I actually sat down to write it, it went a lot faster. I just need more time! If only I could add four hours to the end of every day, then I would be able to get everything I want done. **

Back in the restaurant, Hotch and Morgan walked up to the lady from the elevator, sitting down at the table next to her. Garcia came over and joined them as soon as she got her credit card back from the waiter.

"So," Hotch said, staring at the lady.

"So," she replied, glaring back.

"What do you want with us?" Morgan asked.

"Why is a teenage boy asking me questions even an adult doesn't have the right to know?" she asked snarkily.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Morgan spat, glaring at her. She had looked at Reid weird; she wasn't going to get away with that.

"Sorry, I really don't know what you're talking about," the lady said, her tone suddenly changing.

"Can we go somewhere private and talk?" Hotch asked.

"Um, yeah. My rooms just upstairs, do you want to go there?" the lady said, looking very confused. "Look, I'm sorry if I offended someone, but really, I wasn't doing anything."

Hotch didn't say anything, he just led her out of the restaurant and she pointed out her room to them.

"This is it." She put the key in and unlocked it, stepping aside and letting them pass.

"Why were you looking at my son?" Hotch asked, getting right down to business once the door closed.

"I told you! Because he looks like my own!" the lady protested. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself too, since you obviously aren't going to ask. I'm Molly Cartwright."

"Aaron Hotcher," Hotch said simply. "And how old is your son?"

"Why does it sound like you're interrogating me?" Molly asked suspiciously.

"Ma'am, we just want to know," Garcia injected quietly. "Aaron gets very protective over our son; he is our youngest, after all. You're a mom, you would understand."

"I do, actually. My son, the one yours reminds me of, is my youngest. He just went off to college this fall," Molly sighed. "I miss him so much. He goes to Cal Tech, so he really can't come home very often."

Garcia pulled her laptop out of her bag and softly began typing, ignoring the strange looks Molly was giving her.

"Hotch," Garcia said quietly. When Hotch looked over at her, she nodded.

Hotch then glanced at Morgan and nodded slightly. Morgan pulled out his badge and showed it to her. She looked shocked, opening her mouth to start asking questions immediately.

"SSA Derek Morgan," Morgan said quietly. "This has to stay between us, do you understand?"

Molly nodded, looking very confused.

"We're from the FBI, investigating murders that have been occurring on this cruise ship," Morgan explained carefully.

"Why would you bring your kids with you on a murder investigation?" Molly asked.

"That's the thing. They're really not our kids, they're agents who have been de-aged," Hotch said.

"Oh. Wow. That is quite a bit to take in," Molly said softly, sinking down onto the bed. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"Why would we be lying?" Morgan asked.

"I don't know, you're random people I met on a cruise ship, anything could happen."

"Would I have an FBI badge if I wasn't actually an agent?" Morgan asked, growing frustrated with the woman.

Molly held her hand out for the badge and Morgan handed it to her. After inspecting it, she sighed again.

"I guess I believe you."

"Good," Hotch said. "Now you can't tell anybody about this; if you want the innocent people on this ship to live, it requires us to be able to do our jobs in secret, which means no one can know. Not your family, not even your diary. Not a word of this can be said. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Molly said, standing up and showing them to the door. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. We're just glad you weren't involved with any of this," Hotch said, closing the door behind him and turning to Morgan and Garcia.

"Well, that turned out well," he said, sighing. "Do you want to go back up to the room now, or did you have to grab anything?"

"I'm good," Garcia said. "I have everything I need."

"Yeah, I do too," Morgan said. "Let's just get back upstairs before the kids ruin the hotel room."

Hotch chuckled. "As long as they haven't already."

"Let's hope they haven't!" Morgan exclaimed, pushing the button on the elevator. They neared their rooms and Morgan bid the other two good-night, pulling out his key and pushing the door open, surprised to find the room dark. He crept into the room, not wanting to disturb them if by some chance they were asleep already. When he went over to his bed and turned the covers down, he didn't see Reid asleep there. Confused, he went over to the other bed and similarly found it empty.

He pulled out his phone and called Prentiss, muttering curses under his breath when she didn't answer. He called JJ and Reid, but neither of them picked up either.

"No, no, no," he muttered, pushing the door back open and rushing over to Hotch and Garcia's room.

"They're gone," Morgan said as soon as Hotch pulled the door open.

"What do you mean gone? We saw them 20 minutes ago!" Hotch exclaimed, ushering Morgan in.

"They're not in the room and none of them answered their phones," Morgan said, slightly beginning to panic. "What if they unsub got them?"

"Morgan, relax. I'm sure nothing happened to them, they probably just got distracted and haven't made it back to the room yet," Garcia said.

Still not convinced, Morgan paced around the room.

"We have to go look for them," he said suddenly after a few moments of silence.

"Fine," Hotch said, not seeing any point in arguing with Morgan. "We'll split up, keep your phones on you."

An hour later, the three of them had searched the entire ship and concluded that they were nowhere to be found.

"They're gone," Morgan said flatly when they met up again. His phone screen lit up and he looked at it eagerly, his eyes lighting up when he saw it was Reid.

"Spencer, where are you? And where have you been?" he said immediately, not giving the other boy a chance to speak.

"Spencer? Is that his name? Such a lovely name for a lovely little boy," an unfamiliar mans voice on the phone said.

Morgan paled and his hands started to shake.

"Wh-Who is this?" he asked nervously.

"I have them, don't look for me or they will die, one by one, and their bodies will find their way back to you. In pieces."

With that, the man hung up the phone and Morgan was left standing in the hallway, a dumbfounded expression on his face.

**It feels good to write again! Updates are going to continue to come pretty slow, school is keeping me busy and I'm up until almost 1 every night. Review please!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry for the long wait! Enjoy and review please!**

Reid stirred, groaning as he slowly opened his eyes, squinting in the sudden bright light.

"Spencer?" he heard Prentiss's scared voice say. "Are you okay?"

"My head hurts," he said softly, squinting to try and make out her face. His vision came into focus and he gasped as he saw the bloody gash on Prentiss's head.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice laced with worry.

"He hit me, it's not that bad though. I'm sure it looks worse than it actually is."

Reid reached up to inspect the cut and she winced away from his gentle touch.

"Where's JJ?" Reid asked, pushing himself up into sitting position.

"I'm right here," JJ said from behind him. Reid turned around, grateful to see that she looked unharmed.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," JJ said.

The door slammed from behind them and all three of them jumped, turning around to face whoever had just entered the room.

It was the man who had kidnapped them.

"Who are you?" Reid asked, trying to keep his voice from shaking.

"The names Billy," the man said. "And that's all you need to know."

"What do you want with us?" JJ asked.

"You had such a pretty little family. What a shame it can't stay that way," Billy said, grinning manically.

Reid unconsciously shrank away from him, leaning into Prentiss, who put her arm around him protectively.

"Aw, look, you're even protective of each other. How cute," Billy sneered.

They didn't say anything, but just started up at Billy, wishing this was a nightmare and they would wake up soon.

"I wanna go home," JJ whimpered, hoping the infantile act would convince Billy to let them go. But it seemed to have no effect on him and he reached down and pulled JJ out of Prentiss' grasp.

"Too bad. You got yourselves into this mess, now you're stuck," he said, smirking.

Reid and Prentiss glared up at the man in contempt, fighting the urge to reach up and smack him.

"Put her down," Reid ordered, trying to make his voice sound strong and unfrightened.

"Mm, I don't think so," Billy said, walking out of the room with JJ still struggling to get out of his arms.

"Shit, shit, shit," Prentiss muttered under her breath, keeping up the mantra and pacing around the room until Reid gently placed a hand on her arm, stopping her.

"How can he just do this to us?" she hissed, aiming an angry glare towards the door. "We're FBI agents for crying out loud-"

"Shh!" Reid hissed. "He could be listening to us! Be quiet! That's not something you just want to announce to an unsub!"

"I'm just so frustrated!" she cried.

The door opened again and Prentiss automatically stepped in front of Reid, shielding him from whoever was coming into the room.

"So," a women said, stepping into the room. Reid and Prentiss assumed she was the unsub they had been profiling.

They just stared back at her, not saying anything.

"The little girl, JJ I believe?" the woman said. "Well she passed the test."

"What test?" Reid asked nervously.

"I have finally found my perfect family!" the women exclaimed, going on as if Reid hadn't even spoken.

Reid and Prentiss exchanged confused looks. What was it about them that made them better than all the other kids she had kidnapped?

"And since you three will be the perfect children, we have to start our family as soon as possible. My name is Linda, but you will call me mom. And you'll call Billy, dad."

"Linda-" Reid started.

"Mom!" she snapped. "You'll call me mom! I believe your name is Spencer?"

"Yes," Reid said nervously. "Where is JJ? And what are you going to do with us?"

'Yes, _mom," _Linda corrected. "And she's safe, she's with Billy getting cleaned up a little bit. And we're going to be a family! I'll have a jet take us off this boat as soon as it can and then we'll be off on our first family vacation!"

Reid's eyes jumped to Linda's. Cleaned up? What had happened to her that she needed to be cleaned up? And a jet to take them off the boat? If they left, there was a pretty good chance the team would never find them. After all, if the victim was moved, the chance of finding them alive went down significantly.

"But wouldn't it be a much better vacation here, where we already are?" Prentiss tried, obviously thinking the same thing Reid was.

"Don't be silly, Emily," Linda said sweetly. "In Sedona, it's nice and warm and there's plenty for you guys to do."

"Sedona?" Reid asked, trying to make himself seem like a little kid since he hadn't been remembering to do that lately. "Where's that?"

"In Arizona."

"Why are we going there?" Prentiss asked. Before Linda could answer, the door opened again and JJ ran in, closely followed by Billy.

"Emily!" she exclaimed, launching herself into Prentiss' arms.

"Are you okay?" she asked nervously, pulling JJ away to arms length so she could look at her.

"Yeah, he didn't do anything to me," she said, giving Prentiss a look that said she was actually fine and they would talk later. "Are you guys okay?"

"Good," Prentiss sighed, relived. "And yes, we're fine."

"Enough with the chit-chat," Billy injected. "Let's figure out a way to get us to Sedona without anyone noticing. Come on, Linda."

They both walked out the door, the sound of them locking the door audible for all three to hear. They waited for their footsteps to fade, then immediately started talking.

"Oh, Jaje!" Prentiss exclaimed. "Are you really okay? I'm so sorry he took you!"

"Em, it's not your fault! He actually didn't do anything, he just gave me all these tests and made me show him how smart I was; it was actually really hard to play down to a little kid level, I don't think I did it right, which I think is why we're stuck being their kids but I guess that's better than all of us being killed because I think that's what would have happened if-"

"Jaje!" Reid interrupted, putting a hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong," she said, glancing over at him. "Why?"

"Because you're only ramble when you're stressed. What did he do?"

"Ok…well…he kind of tried to touch me, but I wouldn't let him and then he just kind of dropped it and didn't try again, so I figured…well hoped…that it was just a one-time thing."

"And was it?" Reid asked.

"He hasn't tried anything since, so I'm hoping he just realized he was a creep and moved on."

"Let's hope so," Prentiss muttered.

"So how are we going to get out of this?" JJ asked, moving the subject off of her.

"I'm not sure we can while we're here, but in Sedona it shouldn't be very hard. They'll be lots of chances to get away, especially if they're going to want to have a normal family vacation," Reid said. "They won't be able to keep us tied up if they want normal. Nothing screams abnormal like a couple kids in handcuffs climbing rocks."

"So run when we get the chance there and try to find a cop?" Prentiss asked. "Sounds good."

"What if there's no cop? Surely they'll punish us more if they catch us after we run," JJ reasoned.

"They'll be a cop. It's Sedona, very touristy - at least the part they'll be taking us to is - and there's cops on virtually every corner," Reid said.

"I hope you're right," Prentiss said, nervously hugging her arms around herself.

**Whew, finally got that one done! The chapter probably won't be up until after May 16, which is when my last AP test is. Sorry! Review please!**


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